[SOLVED] Suddenly, hunspell dictionaries not available in Firefox

blnl · 09-20-2018, 11:27 AM

Ever since fc18, I've been using hunspell dictionaries in Firefox to check the spelling in four different languages

Suddenly, Firefox 'check spelling' is not offering selection of four languages any more. I have only one choice; English (United States).
Both Thunderbird and Google Chrome are still offering spelling choice in four languages.

Dictionaries are installed as follows:

Code:

dnf -y install hunspell-en hunspell-nl hunspell-hr hunspell-de

find /usr/share/myspell/ -type l -exec rm -f {} \;
rm -f /usr/share/myspell/en_GB.*
rm -f /usr/share/myspell/en_CA.*
rm -f /usr/share/myspell/de_AT.*
rm -f /usr/share/myspell/de_CH.*

I need some help to understand...
Why is Firefox not able to access the system dictionaries?
Any sugestions how to fix this?

I already tried reinstalling Firefox, and reinstalling dictionaries, but it didn't help.
Of course I could add Firefox add-on's dictionaries, but it is not the preferred way...

hydrurga · 09-20-2018, 11:43 AM

Just a note that, although I am using a different system (Linux Mint 19), my hunspell dictionaries get placed in /usr/share/hunspell, not /usr/share/myspell, and that is where I think Firefox looks for them.

blnl · 09-21-2018, 07:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

Just a note that, although I am using a different system (Linux Mint 19), my hunspell dictionaries get placed in /usr/share/hunspell, not /usr/share/myspell, and that is where I think Firefox looks for them.

There is no /usr/share/hunspell directory. Dictionaries were always located in the /usr/share/myspell and still are.

Code:

[boris@E7440-DELL ~]$ ll /usr/share/hunspell
ls: cannot access '/usr/share/hunspell': No such file or directory
[boris@E7440-DELL ~]$ ll /usr/share/myspell
total 6.2M
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  19K Feb 27  2018 de_DE.aff
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1.1M Feb 27  2018 de_DE.dic
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 3.1K Sep 25  2017 en_US.aff
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 527K Sep 25  2017 en_US.dic
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1.2K Sep 28  2003 hr_HR.aff
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2.3M Sep 28  2003 hr_HR.dic
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  33K Sep 23  2011 nl_NL.aff
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2.4M Sep 23  2011 nl_NL.dic
[boris@E7440-DELL ~]$

These dictionaries are available and other applications are using them. Google Chrome, Thunderbird, Tomboy,...
Firefox was also using them (suddenly not anymore).

hydrurga · 09-21-2018, 08:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blnl

There is no /usr/share/hunspell directory. Dictionaries were always located in the /usr/share/myspell and still are.

Code:

[boris@E7440-DELL ~]$ ll /usr/share/hunspell
ls: cannot access '/usr/share/hunspell': No such file or directory
[boris@E7440-DELL ~]$ ll /usr/share/myspell
total 6.2M
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  19K Feb 27  2018 de_DE.aff
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1.1M Feb 27  2018 de_DE.dic
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 3.1K Sep 25  2017 en_US.aff
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 527K Sep 25  2017 en_US.dic
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1.2K Sep 28  2003 hr_HR.aff
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2.3M Sep 28  2003 hr_HR.dic
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  33K Sep 23  2011 nl_NL.aff
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 2.4M Sep 23  2011 nl_NL.dic
[boris@E7440-DELL ~]$

These dictionaries are available and other applications are using them. Google Chrome, Thunderbird, Tomboy,...
Firefox was also using them (suddenly not anymore).

What does your soft link /usr/lib/firefox/dictionaries point at? In my system it points to ../../share/hunspell.

hazel · 09-21-2018, 10:59 AM

Thanks! I had the problem that every word I typed was being underlined as a spelling mistake. I made the link as recommended and now everything is all right again.

hydrurga · 09-21-2018, 12:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hazel

Thanks! I had the problem that every word I typed was being underlined as a spelling mistake. I made the link as recommended and now everything is all right again.

Like collateral damage but in a good way.

I'm glad that worked for you Hazel.

blnl · 09-24-2018, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

What does your soft link /usr/lib/firefox/dictionaries point at? In my system it points to ../../share/hunspell.

There is no such link at all. In my case, only the mozilla directory exists:

Code:

[boris@E7440-DELL ~]$ ll /usr/lib/firefox/dictionaries 
ls: cannot access '/usr/lib/firefox/dictionaries': No such file or directory
[boris@E7440-DELL ~]$ ll /usr/lib/firefox/
ls: cannot access '/usr/lib/firefox': No such file or directory
[boris@E7440-DELL ~]$ ll /usr/lib/mozilla/
total 8.0K
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4.0K Aug  4  2017 extensions
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4.0K Aug  4  2017 plugins
[boris@E7440-DELL ~]$ ll /usr/lib/mozilla/extensions/
total 0
[boris@E7440-DELL ~]$ ll /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/
total 0
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 34 Jan  6  2016 libjavaplugin.so -> /etc/alternatives/libjavaplugin.so
[boris@E7440-DELL ~]$

hydrurga · 09-24-2018, 10:00 AM

Which version of Firefox are you running? Where is it installed?

Have you searched for a "dictionaries" soft link?

blnl · 10-01-2018, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

Which version of Firefox are you running? Where is it installed?

Have you searched for a "dictionaries" soft link?

version = Firefox Quantum 62.0 (64-bit)
Firefox is installed in /usr/lib64/firefox/
dictionaries soft link points to /usr/share/myspell

Code:

[boris@E7440-DELL /]$ ll /usr/lib64/firefox/
total 118M
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  579 Sep  4 12:55 application.ini
drwxr-xr-x. 5 root root 4.0K Sep 20 14:27 browser
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root    0 Sep  4 12:55 chrome.manifest
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 261K Sep  4 12:59 crashreporter
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 4.0K Aug 30 18:44 crashreporter.ini
drwxr-xr-x. 3 root root 4.0K Dec  3  2014 defaults
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root   89 Sep  4 12:51 dependentlibs.list
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root   18 Sep  4 12:55 dictionaries -> /usr/share/myspell
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4.0K Sep 20 14:27 distribution
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 208K Sep  4 12:59 firefox
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 208K Sep  4 12:59 firefox-bin
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4.0K Sep 20 14:27 fonts
drwxr-xr-x. 3 root root 4.0K Sep  4 12:55 gmp-clearkey
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4.0K Sep 20 14:27 gtk2
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root  12K Sep 20 14:27 langpacks
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root  61K Sep  4 12:59 liblgpllibs.so
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 1.8M Sep  4 12:59 libmozavcodec.so
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 226K Sep  4 12:59 libmozavutil.so
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 6.7K Sep  4 12:59 libmozgtk.so
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 144K Sep  4 12:59 libmozsandbox.so
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 829K Sep  4 12:59 libmozsqlite3.so
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root  11K Sep  4 12:59 libmozwayland.so
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root  97M Sep  4 12:57 libxul.so
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  389 Aug 30 18:44 LICENSE
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 866K Sep  4 12:59 minidump-analyzer
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  17M Sep  4 12:55 omni.ja
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 208K Sep  4 12:59 pingsender
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root   46 Sep  4 12:51 platform.ini
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 204K Sep  4 12:59 plugin-container
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 8.6K Sep  4 12:55 run-mozilla.sh
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root  825 Aug 30 18:44 Throbber-small.gif
[boris@E7440-DELL /]$

Habitual · 10-01-2018, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blnl

There is no /usr/share/hunspell directory. Dictionaries were always located in the /usr/share/myspell and still are.
[/CODE]

These dictionaries are available and other applications are using them. Google Chrome, Thunderbird, Tomboy,...
Firefox was also using them (suddenly not anymore).

You can check these locations for globally installed dictionaries:

/usr/share/hunspell/
/usr/share/myspell/
You can check the spellchecker.dictionary pref on the about:config page.

says https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1114731

Check another user's Firefox?
or create a new FF profile...?

Quote:

About this dictionary
This add-on provides the Mozilla-maintained Hunspell US English dictionary that is shipped with Firefox 60 as a Firefox, Thunderbird and SeaMonkey add-on for localized versions of these programs.

says https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...sh-dictionary/

Hope that helps.

FF version may be considered as imperative.

blnl · 10-04-2018, 03:26 PM

The problem is gone after upgrading firefox to 62.0.2-1.fc27 release.

Code:

[root@E7440-DELL boris]# dnf update
Fedora 27 - x86_64 - Updates                                                                        872 kB/s |  26 MB     00:30    
Last metadata expiration check: 0:00:00 ago on Thu 04 Oct 2018 10:12:01 PM CEST.
Dependencies resolved.
====================================================================================================================================
 Package                           Arch                      Version                               Repository                  Size
====================================================================================================================================
Upgrading:
 firefox                           x86_64                    62.0.2-1.fc27                         updates                     89 M
 openssl                           x86_64                    1:1.1.0i-1.fc27                       updates                    575 k
 openssl-libs                      i686                      1:1.1.0i-1.fc27                       updates                    1.3 M
 openssl-libs                      x86_64                    1:1.1.0i-1.fc27                       updates                    1.3 M
 pcre2                             i686                      10.32-3.fc27                          updates                    243 k
 pcre2                             x86_64                    10.32-3.fc27                          updates                    242 k
 pcre2-utf16                       x86_64                    10.32-3.fc27                          updates                    226 k
 vim-common                        x86_64                    2:8.1.408-1.fc27                      updates                    6.5 M
 vim-filesystem                    noarch                    2:8.1.408-1.fc27                      updates                     51 k
 vim-minimal                       x86_64                    2:8.1.408-1.fc27                      updates                    588 k

Transaction Summary
====================================================================================================================================
Upgrade  10 Packages

Total download size: 100 M

Obviously, this was a firefox bug (introduced in the previous release), which has been fixed in the latest release.

Fortunately, some problems disappear if you wait long enough.
Thank you all for the support.

hydrurga · 10-05-2018, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by hydrurga

What does your soft link /usr/lib/firefox/dictionaries point at? In my system it points to ../../share/hunspell.

Update: note that preventing Firefox from using the Hunspell dictionaries, thus forcing it to only use any dictionary extensions added to Firefox, by pointing /usr/lib/firefox/dictionaries at an empty directory no longer appears to work as of Firefox 62.0.3 or thereabouts.

Instead, you can achieve the above by going to about:config in Firefox and setting spellchecker.dictionary_path to point to an empty directory somewhere on your system (e.g. I create the misspelt /usr/share/hunnspell and use that).